(Opening statement)- "Good morning everybody. How are we doing? In terms of yesterday's practice, I thought it was a good practice. I thought we made some strides in terms of understanding what we have to do to win the game and also understanding what they do and how we have to play the things that they do, so specific to our game plan and also the context of the Vikings' specific strengths as well. We are really looking to finish the week strong, build on those things. We got a little bit of a head start yesterday on the red zone, which was positive. We'll continue to work there and goal line, short yards, the typical Friday process.

"I talked to the team this morning and spent a lot of time just discussing the fact that we control the things that happen by the way that we work. When you understand the benefits that hard work brings, it's really much easier to do that. I just shared with them a story that happened to me a couple of nights ago. I went home, and it was kind of late, and got into bed. I have a three-year old and the five-year old. I had gone down, they were in bed, which they have been quite a bit lately. They're in bed and I woke up with the five year old, not intentionally, but he kind of woke up. He said to me, 'Daddy, why do you have to work so much?' Having that discussion late, with a five-year old, when you're trying to go to sleep, it just happens. I explained to him, 'Well Jake, you like to go to Disney World right?' and he said, 'Yeah,' 'Cape Cod and all those things. You have to work sometimes to create those opportunities.' I go back to bed, I think its fine. He doesn't say anything. About two minutes go by and I feel this tap, 'Jake, what is it?' 'Shouldn't you go back to work?' He got it. He probably sat for two minutes doing the cost-benefit ratio. 'I want Mickey more than you, head back to work.' It applies to all phases."

(On if there is a greater opportunity to surprise opponents in the opener than in other games)- "Yes, the opening game is so unique. I shared a story during training camp, how in New England one year, we had worked on a bunch of these defenses and really liked them in camp. We had all kinds of names, hamburger and cheeseburger, it was a whole thing. I don't know how many reps we practiced it, but it was a ton. We didn't really want to show it until we got in a game. We ran it the first two times and it didn't work like it worked in training camp. All that stuff that you had prepared for kind of went out the window. There's stuff that you haven't seen on tape that really isn't something that's characteristic of that coordinator, that head coach and suddenly it shows up. We've all had an offseason to look at tape. We've had training camp to analyze the things that you're doing, analyze your opponent. You have a little extra time this week to look at a little bit more tape. There is the element of having to adjust. It's different than as you move into the season and understand how they're going to approach it."

(On if you can keep your opponent on their heels if you surprise them at the beginning of the game)- "You'd love for that to happen. When you get those days, those are good days. I've had some of those days on the plus side, where you get eight sacks and everything's going great, or you score a bunch of points and things are rolling. Then you have the other days on the flip side, where you're dealing with that. What we try to do as a staff is, as the players come off, go through the pictures, go through the things that we're seeing. Talk to the players. See how they're seeing it. The next series say, 'If this happens, forget what we were going to do there, now we're going to do this.' That's also why it's so important to have players that are flexible, that can adjust, because you're not walking through it at that point. The amount of time between series, it could be two minutes, it could be 10 minutes, but you're trying to get all that stuff in place for that adjustment the next series, so you don't get hit two or three times before you respond."

(On if he feels the need to calm rookies down)- "We always remember our first time. You try to explain it. You try to have the veterans talk to them a little bit. You try to, as much as possible, create a sense of familiarity in an environment that's really unfamiliar. In watching a little bit of the game last night, the speed of the game, it's so dramatically different than what they've seen in preseason. That can be a little bit of a wakeup call. As a coaching staff and as a group of veteran players, you help them. You try to prepare them as much as you can. The experience is what prepares them, probably, the best."

(On Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum saying that Brett Favre probably should have been on the injury report last year)- "In terms of the things that happened last year, I really addressed that yesterday. I don't have anything additional to add to that."

(On if his approach to the injury report is different this year)- "The approach has really been consistent, from my perspective. We're always going to try to work to follow the rules in the strictest fashion. That won't change. I respect the rules and we're going to follow the rules."

(On if the league has contacted him yet)- "I haven't been contacted. In terms of what I said yesterday, that's really where I'm at."

(On if there is a gray area concerning injury reports)- "Again, there are a lot of different things, a lot of different rules that you look at it and you're trying to do it the right way. That's been the approach and it'll stay the approach, to try to stay in the context and do it the right way. If you have questions, try to ask the questions to make sure that you're doing it the right way."

(On if he thinks the team is thin at running back)- "We'll just have to see where Jerome (Harrison) is today, where (Cedric) Peerman is today, and also tomorrow. I can't convey enough how things do change with a few days, one way or the other, where a guy that you really think is going to be there on Sunday can't go and a guy that you don't really think is going to be there, you're hoping, can go. It happened last year in New York where one of our tight ends, we made him active. We worked him out prior to the game, things looked like they were going the right way and then he couldn't give the reps that we thought he could give us. You have to make that decision and you do the best you can. You try to provide as much time as you can to go through and give every player an opportunity to participate. It does change. You wait to let it all play out."

(On Joe Thomas' matchup with Jared Allen)- "It's tough. Jared Allen, he's an impressive rusher. He has a great motor, good in terms of his speed rush and then the ability to transition from speed to power when they incorporate some of the games that they have. He may start like he's running a speed rush and come underneath, or add a blitzer to that mix. It's challenging. You look at the rest of the group, they're tough too. It's not like you can just say, okay, well if we just handle him, we'll be in good shape. Kevin Williams, he produces a lot of pressure. When you have that, you have a lot of different things that you have to do to try to control it."

(On if Brett Favre ad-libs more than other quarterbacks)- "I don't know if it's ad-libbing as much as reacting. He has supreme confidence. He has great arm strength. He can make some things happen that some other guys can't make happen. He knows that he can make those things happen, he's confident with it, and the receivers know it as well. I don't think it's just in terms of, here's the game plan, and he's going to go out of the context of it. It's more, here's an opportunity, I'm going to try to take advantage of that opportunity. He does it really well."

(On if he trusted Favre if he went away from the game plan)- "I never felt like he was going off the script, or off the game plan. Brett's great, too, about talking through things. During the course of the week, talking through, 'Okay, well I know we're going to run this play, but if we get this opportunity, what do you think?' It wasn't something where he'd just surprise you with the way that he was going. He's very good about that. You analyze it. You look at it. You try to assess where potential opportunities could be. Sometimes it may be on the sideline, 'Hey, this corner's sitting hard outside here, this corner's biting up on this.' What you don't want to do is coach that out of him, because he makes a lot of plays with it."

(On the similarities between Brady Quinn and Brett Favre)- "I think that both guys are incredibly smart guys. They're savvy. They understand defenses. Even though their personalities may be very different, I don't think the approach, or the way that they use the experience they have and the understanding they have, is different. I don't know if that makes total sense. They may approach it a little bit differently, but it's based on the same types of things."

(On Lawrence Vickers and using a two-back system in traditional running situations)- "You like to use the two-back system in both so that it's not overwhelmingly slanted one way or the other. Every time you're in two-back you run, you want to be able to build it both ways. I think Lawrence has done a nice job throughout camp and preseason. He's really worked on some things that we've identified that we thought could help him. He's worked at it and he's improved at it. I like the way he's approached things in the classroom. The nice thing about a two-tight end system, with Robert (Royal) and Steve (Heiden) is both those guys have the ability to go into the backfield as well, so you can build two-back even out of a one-back. The same thing with Lawrence, you could put him, maybe not in-line, on the line of scrimmage, but off the line, tight to the line, like you would a tight end. You see the ones that are off the line. He can do some of that as well. That's what we're constantly trying to do is, within the packages, build off each other so that you add reps and familiarity with the plays, but you can create them a lot of different ways."

(On how soon he starts to look at the first opponent once the schedule comes out)- "As you build the offseason schedule and the different weeks, and you're building the coaching staff schedule and what they're going to work on, you always build time for new opponents and offseason studies. You'll go through and do the equivalent of an offseason scouting report, offseason game plan thoughts on an opponent. You have to look, too, at is the coordinator the same? Is the head coach the same? Is there going to be consistency? You try to build, at least, a foundation that you can look back on and say, okay, these things have stayed consistent over time. It's not just new opponents, there will be some divisional work."

(On if he starts looking at the first opponent almost immediately)- "Yes, and you spend some more time on the earlier opponents, because you know that you're not going to have as much game tape leading into those games. Sometimes it's really valuable and other times you think, well it was a good exercise, but it didn't quite work."

(On if the injury report is his responsibility)- "I work with the trainers and the doctors and get all of the information that we can on that."

(On if he consults with George Kokinis on the injury report)- "George and I both go through it. We get updates daily and try to get all the information that we possibly can."

(On if it worked the same way in New York)- "As I said, with New York, I really answered all those questions."

(On how capable the Browns are of being a passing team when needed)- "That's always the driving force, is to be whichever you need to be that week, against that opponent. The goal is flexibility. Every single time you play a game, the problems that you face, the challenges that you face, they're dramatically different, team to team. Sometimes it's all man-to-man, sometimes it's heavy blitz, sometimes it's more zone, sometimes it's dropping eight. You have to fight the battle based on the terrain, based on the opponent."

(On if the Browns can be a good passing team against good run defenses)- "When we played Minnesota in '06, they were pretty good against the run, and we ran it 29 times. I think there also has to be balance."

(On if he sees the wisdom in picking Joe Thomas a head of Adrian Peterson in the 2007 draft)- "I'm really happy Joe Thomas is here. You go into the draft and you look at the needs and you make the decision based on where you think you need to go organizationally. Not knowing what all those conversations were, I think they've both become really outstanding players. That's what you're always looking for, too, is to get those draft picks to really play well."

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